Don felt Twilight's hair stand up one end under his hand, she jumped up and ran outside, along with all of her friends, Don was out right behind them. As he emerged from her house he saw what looked like a combination of several of different animals smashed into one intimidating snake-like dragon, ironically Don saw a claw that resembeled his own very much on his right arm.

Twilight nearly growled at him “Discord, you’re back...again?!”

Don shook his head, that mash of animals was Discord, he had to struggle not to laugh

“wait…that’s Discord, he looks something a filly would draw up” Don almost chuckled at him.

Discords smile curved into an evil sneer, he teleported right in between Don and Twilight, he mocked them in a baby-like voice “oh you don’t think I’m scary, the big, fluffy, chaotic, lover boy, is accusing the Master of Chaos of being unintimidating?”

He stopped with the baby voice, and it became serious, deep and threatening “let me tell you something Don”. He vanished and appeared behind him slithering around his waist “before I’m done with you, your precious love with Twilight Sparkle will be crushed, your heart will be crushed, you will be crushed, and, will, call, me, master!”

Discord let loose more laughter. Don took a swipe at him with his claws, but he vanished and appeared next to Twilight. She stood her ground, and their friends gathered next to her “you don’t scare us anymore Discord, we beat you once and we can do it again”.

Discord just laughed again “oh come now Twilight Sparkle, do you really think I’d come back without a plan, you’ll never find the Elements this time, and even if you do, they won’t be able to do a thing against me now”.

Applejack jumped forward “What do ya mean Discord, you can’t stop the Elements, they’ll turn ya to stone just like before”

Discord appeared next to A.J and said “ahh, but that’s where you’re wrong Applejack”

Rainbow Dash flew between AJ and Discord “explain yourself”.

Discord flew up into the air “sorry Rainbow Dash, not today, it wouldn’t help you anyway, you don’t even have the elements anyhow, I’ve hidden them, much better than before!”

Twilight groaned “WHERE!”

Discord mocked her with a smile “oh dear Twilight Sparkle, don’t you know, that’s all part of the game”.

He raised his fist, and outside of Ponyville, a maze much larger than the one he had before, sprang up from the ground, along with a giant castle in the center. Discord pointed at the maze entrance “meet me there tomorrow, when you’re all ready, and then we’ll see if you can find your precious Elements.” He started to fly off, then stopped and reappeared next to Twilight

“Oh and Twilight Sparkle” he directed her head at Don

“I would spend tonight, enjoying his company, cause after tomorrow, you’ll never see him again (more evil laughter)!” Discord vanished as Don took another swipe at him.

Applejack was the first one to speak, nearly right after he left “what are we gonna do ya’ll”.

Twilight lowered her head and sighed “well, as much as I hate listening to him, I think we should rest up tonight, and take care of Discord tomorrow”.

They all nodded, and headed their separate ways home, Twilight and Don resigned themselves to help Spike clean up before they went to bed, but they mostly discussed Discord over anything else while they cleaned. Don, although he did his best not to show it, was more worried than Twilight was

“Princess Celestia warned us this would happen” he swept another book into its correct shelf.

Twilight paced throughout the room (it seemed like Don and Spike we’re doing most of the work)

“Yes she did, and everything she and Princess Luna saw has, unfortunately, come true, so far.”

She shuddered, she was afraid of how true that was. Princess Celestia had also told her Don would have to leave, Twilight had hoped that she had fulfilled that when he had left Ponyville after Trixie framed him, it had been her secret reason for causing him to do it. But Discord had appeared anyway, so she now knew that she hadn’t changed the future.

Don interrupted her thoughts with his own “Although, the Princess also said that it would be one of our own that would free Discord, I don’t want to think that any of our friends would do something like that, but I can’t help but wonder about it-”

“Don’t think like that” Twilight cut across him and gave him a small, whack, on the head with the broom she had floating around the room cleaning.

“If you let that worry you, you’ll start to distrust your friends and then we’ll have already lost to Discord”.

Don coughed as some dust from his sweeping flew in his face “you *cough, cough* seem to know what you’re talking about Twilight, what did he do the last time”.

Twilight lowered her head at the sad memory “He tore apart our friendship, he easily split all of us up. That’s why his threat today worries me, I’m not scared of Discord himself anymore, but the thought of him tearing you and me apart…”

She gave a small squeal that made her sound like Fluttershy. Don set down the punch bowl he was carrying and gave Twilight a hug “don’t worry Twilight, I’ll never let Discord inside MY head, I promise we’ll always be mates…In fact, I Pinkie Pie Promise”

He crossed his heart, fluttered his arms, and pretended to poke his eye. Twilight nuzzled her neck against his and let him gently kiss her cheek. Then he surprised her by going up and kissing her horn. Twilight gave a small chuckle

“What was that for sweetie”.

Don smiled “I gave you a small bit of my magic in your horn…I think…I’ve never done that before, but if I did it right, Discord won’t be able to take your horn away this time”

She smiled “Hey wait! How did you know he took my horn away last time?!”

“you told me”

“I did?”

“you talk in your sleep…a lot”.

She blushed “oh”.

Don hugged her again, but this time, picked her up in his arms, and, activating his own magic, sent the things they were cleaning flying into their appropriate places.

Spike stepped down the stairs as Don’s magic relieved him of the load of books he had and said “you couldn’t have done that sooner?”

Don chuckled at him with a smile “Nope!”

“Of course not” Spike sighed and wished them goodnight, leaving them to themselves.

Don carried Twilight up to her bed and laid down with her, he was going to make sure to be as sweet and loving as possible to her tonight, just in case. As her head hit the pillow, her horn lit up and several books flew from her dresser over to them, to which Twilight began to open and read some of them

“I’ve been thinking of all the possible ways we could give ourselves an advantage over Discord, and I think some of these books might help”.

Don shook his head, and pushed the books away from her

“No books Twilight”

She stuttered, clearly that was unacceptable “b-b-but, but I, we-”

He covered her mouth with his hand and shook his head again “No books, just relax Twilight, everything will work out”.

He stretched out his arms behind his head and leaned back into the pillow “It always does”.

She sighed laying her head on his chest “I suppose you’re right”.

He saw her hoof slowly creeping towards one of the books still on the covers. Don chuckled and magically lifted it out of her reach. She didn’t notice until she actually looked at the book moving away from her

“Oh horse apples!” she giggled as she figured it out

“Alright Don, you win, come here”

She rolled over and righted herself next to him. Making herself comfy she laid her head back on his chest and laid one of her back hooves across his legs. Once she was completely comfortable, she flicked her tail onto his legs next to her hoof. He felt her nuzzling his neck again, so he let her, meanwhile he moved one of his arms around her and began to gently run it through her coat. He felt her shiver at his gentle touch; she began to lightly flick her tail as a sign of comfort, and eventually wrapped it with his. As he felt his eyes begin to droop, he knew that sleep was calling him, and although he wanted to ignore it, he felt it taking hold.

He could see Twilight falling as well, so he gave her a gentle nudge, to which she jumped and yipped “I wasn’t sneaking a book”.

He just shook his head “you’re so adorable Twilight”

She blushed and gently pushed the book onto the covers near them. Don, seeing this, magically lifted the other six books she had out onto the covers around them, putting them all within Twilight’s reach. She smiled at him and licked his lips gently. He felt the need to kiss her back, but also felt his eyes giving way to exhaustion, so he instead summed up his last bit of energy and used it to end the night for them. He gently licked her lips back and said “I can see your sleepy face Twilight”

She blushed and said “I can stay up if you want me to”.

Don shook his head gently “We will need the rest, but I do want to ask you something”.

She nodded “What is it sweetheart”.

Her eyes were barely open, and so she never saw it coming, he pressed his lips against hers, not hard, but enough to let her know. She opened her lips and connected them with his; they gently kissed back and forth, until he said

“Do you think we could fall asleep in a kiss”.

Twilight gave a small laugh and let him kiss her. She willingly let their lips continue to connect, and before either of them knew it, they were asleep. They weren’t kissing when sleep took them, but they were smiling, and happy.

Twilight was the first one to wake the next morning. She smacked her lips together sleepily, wanting, more than anything at that moment, to just go back to sleep, but she knew that they had both, probably slept in late and needed to get up. Twilight felt a breeze come in through her open window, despite the coolness of the air, she felt perfectly comfortable. Don’s fur, plus her own, was like their own blanket when they laid together. It was one of the many new things she loved about having a mate to love. Twilight carefully slid out from under Don’s arm and made her way quietly downstairs to make her, Spike, and Don some breakfast before they headed out for the maze.

As she walked into the kitchen, she was so sleepy that she completely missed the fact all of her friends were sitting around her table. As she fumbled around in the refrigerator, she suddenly realized what she had walked by. She zoomed back out of the kitchen into the library where all of her friends still sat! As they saw her fly back in, still holding the milk she was getting, they broke out laughing.

Twilight immediately hushed them “Sssshhhhh! Everypony shush, Don is still asleep”.

Rainbow Dash smirked “oh is he?”

She took off into the kitchen and came out with a bucket of ice water. Then she flew up the stairs, shutting the door behind her. Twilight meant to stop her, but she was tired, and Rainbow was too fast to catch. So instead she turned to her friends

“What are all of you doing here so early?”

Pinkie immediately hopped over and said “Early? You silly filly, it’s past lunch time. We all got up early and met in the market but then you never showed up then I had this great idea and said ‘we should all wait at Twilight’s house’ and we agreed and then we came and then Spike let us in and then we waited for you two lovey dovey birdies to get out of bed!”

She took a huge breath of air and finished “and that’s why we’re all here now”.

Twilight’s head felt like it was spinning from her endless talking, so she just said “oh good”.

She was about to ask more, but then a loud splash, followed by the unmistakable sound of a metal bucket hitting the floor, interrupted her. A few seconds later Rainbow Dash came walking down the stairs, her feathers completely soaked in ice water, and her legs shivering. Applejack and Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at her

“What’s a matter Rainbow, things not go the way ya planned”.

Rainbow grumbled something about Don being awake now, grabbed the nearest towel in her mouth and began to dry herself off. Not long after, Don came walking down the stairs rubbing his eyes, and the first thing he said, after kissing Twilight on the cheek, faster than she could have thought possible in his sleepy state, was

“Next time Dashie, make sure I’m asleep before you try to get me with that, and it might work”.

It didn’t take long for the laughter to stop, unfortunately, they all knew that today was the day, the day they had to face Discord again. Don was the most nervous out of them all, he didn’t like the idea of all of Equestria depending on him to stop Discord, it made him feel nauseous.

Twilight, however, was more confident than ever that they could defeat Discord. As she looked outside her window she noticed that, even though Discord had returned, Ponyville was not experiencing the conversion into chaos like it had last time. This filled her with new resolve and was ready for them to take on Discord together. Twilight tapped her hoof on the floor loudly to gain all of their attention. Twilight spoke to them with radiating confidence that made even Don feel better “alright everyone, this is it, today we defeat Discord one last time, let's put that bully back in stone where he belongs.”

She walked across the room to the door “Discord says he’s become stronger than ever, but so have we. Our friendship has grown stronger than ever before, just in the last few months everything has changed for us. We have a new friend, (she motioned at Don) and with his help we can defeat Discord, our friendship…our love, is stronger than he could ever hope to be. Now I say, LET’S GO GET HIM”! She threw open the door and they all stormed out into Ponyville. They ran into the market on towards the outskirts of Ponyville.

As he ran through the market, Don noticed that nearly everypony’s windows were shut and all the stands were closed. He mentioned this to Applejack, but she shrugged it off

“Discord did make that announcement last night, it’s mighty understandable if everypony is hunkerin down their homes, they probably think the world is ending”.

Don didn’t have much time to really think about AJ’s response, because before he knew it, they were standing in front of Discord’s maze. It seemed so much larger up close, Don felt his knees give a slight shiver. Twilight noticed this, and gave him a small rub with her neck on his arm. He smiled, knowing he could defiantly beat this maze and Discord if he had her with him.

They had not been at the maze for more than a minute, before Discord himself appeared in front of them. He smirked down at them “oh Twilight Sparkle, Don, and friends, I’m so happy you could make it. And here I was starting to think you had chickened out”.

Rainbow Dash blew air out her nose at Discord “We’re not scared of you Dipcord”.

Discord laughed and bent down, leveling his face with Rainbow Dash’s “Oh that’s tough talk coming from you, Deserter Dash. I beat all of you before, I won, it was only because of Celestia and her infernal letters that you all managed to defeat me. Oh but don’t worry, I learn from my mistakes, this time my plan is full proof, and this time I will crush all of you, but we will come to that later”.

Discord vanished and appeared next to Twilight. He put his claw on her head and turned it to face Don “Take a good look at him Twilight Sparkle, do you see it? I certainly can, I see that he is what ensures my victory”.

He grabbed Don and pulled them both together “You think this cutsie lovey dovey mess you have will last, please!”

He pushed them both away and floated above all of them. “Power of Love, oh gag me, you’re nothing, just a lost creature, in a body that isn’t yours, which doesn’t belong here, with no memory of his life before this little obsession, you don't even recognize me, do you?! You think something like you can defeat me? I laugh at the mere thought of it.”

Don snarled at him. He extended his claws and said “Why don’t you come down here where I can reach you, and I’ll show you how loving my claws can be to you, hmmm, Master of Chaos”.

Before Don could react Discord appeared in front of him, making him stumble back “You have quite a dark side to you, for something that supposedly supposed to represent the embodiment of love, he seems more like my little Prince of Chaos, don’t you think”.

Twilight and her friends got between Discord and Don. Twilight positioned herself right in front of Discord, staring him full in the face “You leave him alone Discord, we came here to beat your stupid maze, not to debate over Don, you don’t know anything about him”.

Discord laughed “Ahhh, but that’s where you are wrong Twilight Sparkle, I know EVERYTHING about Don, and that’s more than Celestia by the way”

He stuck his tongue out at her, then continued “But you’re right, you all came here to complete my maze, to try and win back your precious Elements”.

Discord held out his hand, and the Elements appeared in it, circling his claw “Here they are”

He closed his hand and threw them through the walls of the maze, all the way to the center “And there they go”. He laughed at them once again “Just simply make it to the middle of the maze and the Elements are yours, oh and don't forget...have fun”

As he vanished, he snapped his fingers. Suddenly Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hit the ground, their wings were gone

Rainbow sighed “not agaaaaaaaain”.

Then Rarity let out a squeal, her horn was also gone.

Don turned to Twilight and smiled, she still had hers!

As the entrance to the maze appeared, Rainbow Dash saw Twilight still had her horn.

“Hang on just one second, how come you get to keep your horn”

Twilight giggled “good thinking Don”

He smirked “It always pays, to plan ahead”.

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows and Applejack said “Ah don’t follow”

Twilight opened her mouth to explain, but Pinkie Pie cut across her before she could “well duuuhh, isn’t it obvious? Don used magic on Twilight’s horn in case Discord tried to take it again, it’s soooo obvious I think it’s obvious and you should too cause it’s so obvious”.

Twilight and Don were dumbfounded, Don held his mouth open “Wow Pinkie, that’s exactly right, how did you know”

Pinkie giggled “Cause silly, that’s what I would have done”

Don blushed “oh”.

Rainbow, thankfully, brought them back to their senses with a loud sigh “Alright, great, we get it, now can we please go kick Discord’s butt already”.

They all nodded and yelled together “alright let’s get em!”.

They stepped into the maze, but the moment they did, the wall sprung up behind them sealing the exit.

Twilight turned and yelled “quick everypony grab-”

But she wasn’t quick enough, before she could finish, more walls sprung up between all of them separating them from each other, just like the last time “-a partner, oh great, just like before”. This was gonna be a long day...

Author's Notes:

Ahhh yes another maze...who could have predicted that would happen? :P